Man'ari
The man'ari are the demon-corrupted eredar who now lead the Burning Legion. They are commonly referred to as just the eredar, this could be because, other than the draenei and man'ari, there is no evidence of other kinds of eredar left in existence. These eredar are the first among the demons of the Burning Legion. History The dark titan Sargeras, in order to create a great Legion, planned to bolster his ranks by creating demons. He was attracted by the eredar's magical affinity, and contacted them under the guise of a benevolent being, promising their three leaders, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, and Velen, vast powers and that he would use his power to transform their race into an even greater one so they may spread his universal union. A troubling vision soon came to Velen, who saw the eredar transformed into unspeakable demons. But despite Velen's misgivings, Archimonde and Kil'jaeden agreed to join Sargeras' Burning Legion. The eredar were the first sentient race to pledge their allegiance to Sargeras. Knowing that other sentient beings would inevitably join the Legion, the eredar declared that their primary language, Eredun, would be the Legion's common language. With his fellow eredar already becoming corrupted by demonic power, Velen split from the man'ari — who were now a "twisted demonic reflection of" the original eredar — on Argus with the help of the naaru, renaming themselves the draenei, or "exiled ones" in Eredun. The man'ari continued to call themselves "eredar" under Kil'jaeden and were infuriated with what they perceived as a betrayal. They hunted Velen and the draenei across dozens of worlds for thousands of years. Every time it seemed that the draenei had found a new home, the Burning Legion would fall upon them. The indigenous races of many worlds were oftentimes mutated by the eredar's malevolent warlock powers and turned into demons themselves. Both factions continued to use the Eredun language, though specific dialects have evolved: the Demonic Eredun and the Draenei. The draenei traveled through most of the cosmos and eventually discovered another, safer world to settle down upon. They named this world Draenor or "exiles' refuge". At first there was peace with the native orcs living there, and they struck up trade and diplomacy with the shamanistic race. But soon the draenei's existence there was discovered by the evil eredar. The eredar then began to corrupt the orcs and turned them into a war-like race by granting them access to warlock magics. The orcs subsequently hunted down the draenei, almost wiping out the entire race. The eredar consumed all life around them and set out to find more places of mystical power. Until now, only the titans have ever challenged them. Each of the leaders, Archimonde and Kil'jaeden, built a hierarchy of demons, jealously protected from the will of the other. These groups strove for dominance of Azeroth and other worlds. But now, at long last, Archimonde is dead, killed by the heroes of Azeroth. Individual eredar and a few hopeful heroes of the lesser races have decided that they are the best candidates to replace him. These prideful few have taken their first careful steps toward locating and eliminating the presumptuous competition that might seek to displace them. Ecology Description The eredar mutated by Sargeras's demonic power are physically similar to their original shape, with a few minor differences (the original eredar shape has been preserved in the draenei). These creatures are of impressive size, far larger than any human or orc, with a bulky muscular body and a long tail. Long pointed ears sweep back from its bestial face and horns sprout from its wide brow (Although Archimonde's cinematic and drawn art shows a different style of cheek spikes, and no spikes above the eyes). The hooves of demonic eredar are more compact than those of draenei, and most males of the demonic breed lacks cranial hair. The hands of demonic eredar are clawed. Most significantly, demonic eredar are much larger than draenei - though few could match Archimonde's preferred height (he can change his size). The man'ari have few physical differences with draenei, but for height, skin color, and eye color. Kil'jaeden shows a greater amount of physical variation, however, having sprouted both horns and wings in his most recent incarnation in addition to the more regular man'ari mutations; though these additional appendages could be a result of his shape-altering abilities rather than the influence of fel magic. Two female eredar, Lady Sacrolash and Grand Warlock Alythess in Sunwell Plateau, also show a minor difference from their draenei counterparts in that they have much longer tails. The corruption of the draenei/original eredar form into the man'ari eredar is not limited to the distant past: any draenei that allows themselves to become corrupted can become a man'ari eredar, transforming from humanoid to demon. The one poignant example in recent times is Levixus, an eredar who was born as a draenei. Sociology Pre-eminence in eredar warlock society depends almost entirely upon magical power. Those who command the greatest selection of paramount spells — and thus in theory the greatest magical arsenal — rise to higher ranks. Those whose arcane abilities top out at such pitiful cantrips as wish and shape change are grunts and lackeys, scarcely worthy of notice. Because of the very nature of magic, rank, magical power, and overall intelligence go hand-in-claw. This rule of rank is never deviated from; Archimonde's status among his brethren is backed up by his mastery of the most destructive forms of magic, and his adeptness of all others (recall his single-handed destruction of Dalaran). However, while Archimonde is violent and destructive, Kil'Jaeden is ruthlessly cunning, and coupled with his powerful magic, may even make him an even more dangerous demon than Archimonde. Trivia *The eredar are referred to as "one of the oldest known races in the universe". *"Man'ari" is an Eredun term with no specific meaning, but describes something that is considered "horrifically wrong, something twisted and unnatural and defiled". It is most often used by the draenei to describe the eredar followers of Kil'jaeden and Archimonde, and some demonic eredar appear to refer to themselves as such, however, usage as a species name to refer to the eredar of the Burning Legion can be considered grammatically correct as Kil'jaeden appropriated the term for his own use. These eredar are the twisted demonic reflections of the draenei that were 'gifted' by Sargeras, but they still call themselves eredar. *Eredar warlocks maybe a subrace or group of man'ari. Category:Races Category:Demons Category:Humanoids Category:Creatures